Twenty Three Short Films
by Nancy Brown
Summary: Twenty-three short fics based on requested prompts about the women of Torchwood and the aliens that love them.


Title: Twenty-Three Short Films About the Women of Torchwood and the Aliens Who Love Them  
Rating: PG  
Characters: Gwen, Maria Jackson, Toshiko, Mary, Lisa, Suzie, Estelle, Annie, Jenny, Katie, Johnson, Rhiannon, Tish, Martha, Emily Holroyd, Trina, Megan, Kathy Swanson, Lois, Sarah Jane, Owen, Jack, Ianto, Rhys  
Spoilers: up through CoE (characters only)  
Summary: Twenty-three short stories, based on requested prompts.  
Beta: **queenfanfiction**  
Author's Note: Written for the participants in the **Torchwood Female Characters Are Awesome Ficathon**. Thanks for playing, everyone! Hope you've had as much fun as I have!

* * *

**pocky_slash**:

Gwen should be used to the faces on the other side of the desk getting younger, but she doesn't like the alternative explanation either. Miss Jackson is barely twenty two but she has seen enough of aliens to make her equal to most of the veterans working elsewhere in the Hub. The interview is strictly a formality.

"Are you sure?" Gwen frets. They've come close too many times, rescuing friends in the nick of time. She doesn't want their luck to break with this child's life.

"I'm sure." Maria's expression is set, ready.

Gwen extends her hand. "Welcome to Torchwood."

* * *

**igrockspock**:

Heart beating in her mouth, Tosh presses against the cold stone wall and tries not to breathe loudly. The snuffling around the corner makes her regret her morning splash of perfume.

She's led it slowly through the Hub, staying far enough ahead to keep out of reach of the jaws, keeping close enough not to let it lose her scent. If it wanders away, things will be worse.

Her fingers find the handle to the door of the armoury and she wrenches the door wide, slamming it as a heavy body thumps behind her.

Now she has guns. Tosh smiles.

* * *

**51stcenturyfox**:

Every surface is alight with candles. Mary dragged her through shops, pausing over gooseberry and beeswax, sniffing and laughing, and now there's a haze all through Tosh's flat, a scented mystery waiting for their discovery. Tosh presses lips against a curved smile and returns it. They caught the second alien yesterday, the one Mary spent lifetimes tracking, and he is gone and she is here, dressed in thin red lace.

"I want to keep you forever," Mary thinks, and licks down Tosh's throat to where the pendant dangles. Tosh moans, knowing this is their second beginning, perfect, bathed in candlelight.

* * *

**pomkeygeekange**:

She believed in Heaven. Now she believes in stone, and damp, though her hands pass through both without sensation. Lisa remembers her life clear as glass: her family, her friends, her work, her boyfriend. Her memories of the end are disjointed, merged with another's, and she pushes them away.

The other is here with her, a ghost of metal as she is of flesh, haunting her as she haunts this place she barely remembers.

Sometimes it screams. Sometimes she does too, caught between worlds, unable to do anything but watch her lover slowly forget her.

This is nothing like Heaven.

* * *

**queenfanfiction**:

Tosh is alone with her faith. The other three spirited her out from under the metal noses of the Toclafane sent to slaughter them, and set before her the impossible task of bringing down the Valiant with a virus. They stole parts and electricity for her, but solidarity means discovery, and they have abandoned her one by one.

"I'll come back this way," Owen said with a kiss.

Every day, she checks for signs when she scurries out for rations. Nothing, and it has been three months.

He promised. She believes him. She works, and she waits, and she prays.

* * *

**wynkat1313**:

"He's my boyfriend." The words stick in her throat.

The gun is a solid point at the back of her skull, and for one moment, Lisa wishes Jack would just shoot her and end this. Months of too little sleep and too much uncertainty all pile in on her at once. She begged and conned her way into this job, she's resisted her new boss's advances while coyly flirting back, she's given everything to save Ianto, and now it is all cracking apart.

"Please," she says with a quiet sob.

She wonders if her mind or heart will break first.

* * *

**miss_bekahrose**:

Tosh spends all but a few of her waking hours at work, knowing the price of her freedom has been the rest of that freedom. Jack talks with her, but he's distant, preferring to give her instructions and stay out all day dealing with the Rift and the Weevils, while Tosh toils over Mainframe and tells him where to chase next.

She's so tired.

One night, he brings a woman back with him. "This is Suzie," he says. "She's going to help me in the field."

Everything changes, he always says. Tosh watches the new woman and hopes he's right.

* * *

**mcparrot**:

When Estelle closes her eyes, she still sees her Jack's smile, feels his strong arms around her, breathes in his warm scent. Their time was short, but she recalls one perfect night, weaving their bodies together like a spell. When she sees his son, she's startled by the resemblance, but she knows how children wear their parents' faces.

He's maddenly unwilling to answer questions, but she stops asking when she spies the tiny scar on his left thumb, the one like a mountain. Cardiff has always been full of magic. She can wait for Jack to tell her this charm.

* * *

**azn_jack_fiend**:

"You're kidding," Jack says, but he doesn't resist. Estelle hides her smile as they make their way into the forest glade. His hand is large and warm holding hers, and her heart is beating too fast for the light walk.

"You must be quiet," she admonishes. "I understand how hard that is for you."

He pretends offence. "Excuse me?"

"Sh!" The faeries are close, and the delight that always touches her in their presence blooms. "Can you feel it?"

"Yeah." He sweeps her into a kiss.

They're gone.

She sighs. They'll have to find another use for the isolated glade.

* * *

**jolinarjackson**:

Annie is still shaking. The pizzas are destroyed on the floor, but that doesn't stop a sharp-faced man from picking up one of the boxes to look for an undamaged slice. The nice man from the tatty tourist centre has dragged away the now dead monster that burst in on her delivery, leaving her here with a crush of new people.

A woman joins her. "How are you doing?"

"What … what was it?"

"Something you should forget," she replies. "Come on, let's get you a nice cuppa."

"Thanks," she says automatically, wondering how she'll ever forget all those teeth.

* * *

**czarina_kitty**:

She delights in the play of light off the bay, the gulls circling, the humans around her. Of course he'll come here. It's just a matter of time. She has time.

The joke makes her laugh.

There's a sensation like pain, like nausea, like what a compass needle might feel, all emanating from the door she's approaching.

The sign says "Open," so she does.

The two men inside spring apart and turn to her. The flustered one says, "May I help you?" The pull comes from his companion.

"I'm Jenny," she says with a friendly smile. "I'm here to help."

* * *

**golden_d**:

Katie feels like half an hourglass. Her life was full of sand and possibility: a good job, a good man, a good future ahead of her. Now the grains are falling, leaving holes and gaps. She's lost the names of friends, of the bones in the body. She's standing in the kitchen, looking at the brightly coloured items in front of her. They're cool, smooth to the touch. They hold the tea.

His arms wrap around her waist. "Lemme get the mugs, yeah?"

"Yeah."

More grains slide. She feels like the top half of … something. Something glass. It marks time.

* * *

**amand_r**:

With a groan of pleasure, she takes off her first boot. The second one joins it a moment later on the carpet by the door, and if her feet could orgasm, they would. She pads to the kitchen in her socks. She isn't romantic, but she presses a kiss to Tosh's cheek anyway. "That smells good."

"It should. It's instant." Tosh's mouth is curved into a pretty smile as she stirs the steaming pot. Real cooking is for other people.

She gets the plates and the wine. It's an odd life they're building, but Johnson is starting to like it.

* * *

**dreamscapemusic**:

"Are you sure she'll like me?"

"I'm sure."

Tosh isn't reassured. She's been plucking nervously at her sleeves, playing with the strap of her handbag. Ianto reaches over to take her hand.

"What should I say?"

"'Hello,' would be a good start."

"Ianto."

"She knows we work together. She knows I never stop talking about you."

"Does she know I'm older than you?"

He squeezes her hand. "She'd be shocked if you weren't."

The door flies open as they go to knock. Tosh is propelled inside, and Rhiannon hugs her like a sister.

He was right. This feels like home.

* * *

**xtricks**:

Tish is tired, but it's a good tired. Starting her own business was the best decision she could have made, given her record with employers. The hours are long, the paperwork is a nightmare, but she's happy, she's thriving, and that's worth a lot of late nights poring over taxes.

Her email pings.

Though she wants a shower and sleep, she reads Jack's somewhat rambling letter. He likes having someone to complain to outside his incestuous little group.

She's not his therapist. But she does write back, telling him about her day. It's nice to have a friend who listens.

* * *

**beesandbrews**:

Sometimes, he leaves for days. Suzie tracked him a few times, finding his signal in London, in Scotland, out on an island in the Channel. She's stopped bothering about where he's going, as long as he comes back and doesn't permanently drop this mess in her lap.

He's off now, and she looks over the reports someone has to sign. Owen needs to examine that spiked alien they shot. Toshiko is rewiring the circuits that blew after Mainframe's last tantrum. There's UNIT to talk to, and tech piling on her workbench to look over.

Suzie sighs. Just another damn day.

* * *

**deaniebtvs**:

Martha has travelled through time and space, has worked for another alien fighting organisation, has walked the bloody Earth telling stories. She's not unaccustomed to weird.

The alien on the table is staring at her. It was dead, she'd shot it herself, trembling with the unfamiliar weapon in her hand and the Doctor's chiding voice in her head.

She touches her ear. "It's alive."

Moments later, the rest are at the railing, ready to aid her, but the alien takes a rattling gasp and expires. Martha doesn't have to take its pulse but does anyway.

Then she shuts its eyes.

* * *

**citrinesunset**:

She takes the packet and nods gravely as the man across the desk looks at her over his spectacles. "You do understand how much responsibility you are being given, young lady?"

Emily keeps her smile prim. "I do." The most powerful woman who has ever lived sits on the throne, and this titch of a man thinks Emily can't watch over bloody Cardiff. Idiot.

She stays pleasant until she can be rid of him. As soon as she is out of his sight, something bubbles out of her in a laugh. He called it responsibility. She knows it is freedom.

* * *

**alt_universe_me**:

"Seven," Martha says, voice a touch slurred. She notices Ianto's hands are shaking as he presses the button on Jack's purloined wriststrap and has just enough time to think that they have had enough wine, when there's a flash and suddenly she's sick. A moment later, he's also sick.

Martha is stone cold sober as she sees the spires of the blue palace ringed with light.

Ianto blinks owlishly at a battered spacecraft puttering by. "Oh. It worked. Where are we?"

"No idea."

"Want to go back?"

She looks at him. He looks back. They share a grin. "Not yet."

* * *

**blue_fjords**:

"We were sent here to keep watch over you," says Trina.

Megan says, "Our homeworld knows of Torchwood."

Gwen blinks. Then she blinks again. They're having a go at her. Someone gave them lines and is watching to see her react.

"This isn't a trick."

"We're also psychic."

"Prove it."

"Rhys is worried you'll find out about the cheesecake he ate last night."

Gwen turns. "You said it fell!"

His hands go up. "Your friends. Are. Aliens."

"Fine. Why are you both telling me this now?"

"We need your help."

"The world is in great danger."

She sighs wearily. "Again?"

* * *

**bookwormsarah**:

It's late, but it's Torchwood. Tosh stretches back in her chair, and casts a glance around the Hub. Owen left an hour ago, not saying where he was headed, and even Jack's lights are dark.

She's lonely, she knows, but there are worse things, and she gathers her belongings.

"Busy?"

She jerks. Suzie stands by the door, silent as a ghost, watching her.

"I was just headed home."

"I was going for a drink. You could join me."

Tosh almost says no. But the dark is empty, and she wants a friend. "Sure."

Suzie smiles with unfamiliar warmth. "Let's go."

* * *

**saintmaybe1121**:

Kathy is going to kill someone. She hasn't decided who. Her city is in ruins, some of her best friends are dead, she's the highest ranking officer left, and she wants someone to blame. Any name will do, and God help the first dealer who crosses her path.

She feeds on her anger over sleepless days and nights, giving orders to weary coppers to keep up the patrols, don't let the looters take control.

There's no looting. There are no petty crimes. The streets are filled with people helping one another rebuild.

Her anger fades, reluctantly. Pride feels better anyway.

* * *

**aranellaurelote**:

Gwen sits beside Lois. "The first lockdown is the hardest."

"It's so loud."

"On it," Tosh says, and the klaxon stills. She and Ianto return to fixing the locking mechanism. Jack is giving them advice. Bad advice, from the look on Tosh's face.

"At least we managed a call outside this time." Rhys gave his love, reminded her to call Emma later, and rang off to phone for help. She hopes.

The door slides open. Before Gwen can congratulate Tosh, she sees the familiar tin dog and its mistress.

"You owe me, Captain," says Sarah Jane. Gwen hides her smile.


End file.
